TIEFFENTALLER, JOSEPH. - Jesuit missionary and geographer, b. at Salorno (Bolzano) on 24 April 1710, d. at Laknau (India) on 5 July 1785.
Having entered the Order in 1729, he left for India in 1740; in 1743 he was in the Kingdom of the Great Mogul; and from 1747 to 1764 at Narvar. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus, he did not abandon India, but continued to work as an itinerant missionary. In his travels he had the opportunity to gather much information and observations on astronomy, history, natural sciences, usages, customs, and religions, which formed the subject of many communications to the scientists of Europe. To him is owed above all the scientific exploration of the middle Ganges and its tributaries, especially of the Ghaghara; for which T. is called the "Father of modern Indian geography." Anquetil du Perron, with 3 large and 32 small geographical maps, obtained in 1776 from T. together with the necessary explanations, published: Carte générale du cours du Gange et du Gogra dressée par les cartes particulières du p. T. (Paris 1784). The German astronomer J. Bernoulli, in turn, having obtained from the physician Dr. Kratzenstein many letters and 30 other valuable manuscripts of the missionary, published, with all the geographical maps: Des p. J. Tieffenthalers der Gesellschaft Jesu und apostolische Missionarius in Indien historisch-geographische Beschreibung von Hindoustan (3 vols., Berlin and Gotha 1785-88; French trans., ibid. 1786-89).
Bibliography2 works
Celestino Testore